US judge rules anti-Castro militant eligible for release on bail

[JURIST] A US judge ruled Friday that an anti-Castro militant allegedly behind the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner [Wikipedia backgrounder; additional materials] should be released on bail, which was set at $350,000. Luis Posada Carriles [Wikipedia profile; additional materials; JURIST news archive], 78, a former CIA operative trained by the US for the failed anti-Castro Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, snuck into the Miami area in 2005 and was subsequently arrested [JURIST report] for immigration violations.

US District Judge Kathleen Cardone said Carriles was not a flight risk given his age and ties to the community. Nevertheless, he remains in prison while federal prosecutors consider an appeal. Carriles was due to be deported for entering the US illegally, but a US immigration judge delayed [JURIST report] his deportation in 2005, determining that he could not be sent to Venezuela, where he is a naturalized citizen, or to Cuba, the country of his birth, for fears that he would be tortured. Carriles is wanted in both countries on terrorism charges, and Venezuela was particularly incensed [JURIST report] at the denial of its extradition requests. Reuters has more.

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